Who is my prosecuting Attorney??

[rsmitty]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
California

Thank you in advance for your help. Today I went to court in Van Nuys which is a district of Los Angeles city and plead not guilty for a ticket I received while using my cell phone while driving.

I have been following the procedures on this website to help me fight my ticket:

Help! I Got a Ticket!

So far, so good. I am out on "OR" right now which is pretty cool since I had no idea I could do that.

Anyway, I need to send documents to the prosecuting attorney for my case (assuming this what I need to do). I do not know if the prosecuting attorney would be the district attorney (Steve Cooley) or the city attorney (Carmen A. Trutanich) or someone else.

I asked a clerk after my arrainment and she was as useful as a bowling ball with no holes. She said that traffic tickets / infractions have no prosecuting attorney and looked at me like I was retarded. I asked her about Discovery and she told me that there is no discovery and that discovery was my ticket.

Anyway, some guidance would really be appreciated. I would love to go back to that clerk and tell her how stupid she is.

Thanks for your help

 

[I_Got_Banned]

In a way, the traffic clerk is right. There is no prosecuting attorney for traffic infractions... At least there will not be one in court on your trial date. You will receive confirmation of this in response to your discovery request, regardless of who you send it to.

As far as whom you should send your discovery request to, send it to both, the County DA & the City Attorney... You should also serve a copy on the Law Enforcement agency the issued the citation...

 

[Jim_bo]

In a way, the traffic clerk is right. There is no prosecuting attorney for traffic infractions... At least there will not be one in court on your trial date. You will receive confirmation of this in response to your discovery request, regardless of who you send it to.

I think that is a LIE that has been perpetuated by corrupt DA's. There is case law that says a PA need not be present at trial, but there is NOTHING that relieves the PA for all of its responsibilities. It is insulting to the intellegence to think otherwise. After all, WHO would be doing the prosecution?? The cop can't, he is a witness. The court can't, prosecution is an executive act that can't be performed by the judiciary. So, without a prosectution, there can be no conviction! Therefore, there IS a prosecution... but they are just woefully negligent in performing their duties.

As far as whom you should send your discovery request to, send it to both, the County DA & the City Attorney... You should also serve a copy on the Law Enforcement agency the issued the citation...

I agree, send it to the city attorny and the DA. However, there is no legal requirement for the LEA to respond to a discovery request. Worse yet, they can send you only parts of information requested or even innacurate information and there is nothing that can be done about it because it is NOT discovery. The PA is the one who is charged with the legal obligation to provide discovery and disclose all possibly exculpatory evidence.